Thermostat.



H. E. REEVE. THERMOSTAT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT, 11, 1913,

Patented Mar. 31, 1914;

WITNESSES ENE) HENRY a nerve, or ew Your, N. Y.

- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar.t31,1914.

Application filed September 11, 1913. Serial No. 789,263

To aZl'w/wm it may concern:

Be it knownthat; -I, H1NnY E. Rnnvs, a citizen of the-Unitc d states of America, and residing at New York, in the county"'-'of 6 Kings and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Thermostats, of which the following is a specification.

In thermostatic constructions it is of the greatest importance that the device operate quickly and with certainty. It is customary to have a bimetallic thermostatic element in the electric circuit which is adapted to be irped with a change of temperature. nave found that when a device of the ordinary character is subjected to a quick rise in temperature it does not act as promptly as is desirable.

It is the principal object-of my present invention to provide a constructi'onwhich will operate with a. maximum speed upon a sudden rise of temperature.

Another object is to provide .a simple, light and .at the same time rigid form of construction for supporting a thermostatic arm, and one which maybe readily manufactured.

It is customary to form the thermostatic element of brass and steel, a layer of brass being united to a layer of steel. The brass havin a greater coefficient of expansion than t 1e steel, chan e of temperature causes the arm to warp. t has also been customary to form the supports for the thermostatic elements of ordinary shcct'mctal such as ordinary steel. By reason of the mechanical features of construction the sup-- port is of greater. mass than the thermostatic arm. Also a considerable portion of 9 the suppont is usually coated with a waterproof enamel and is consequently more or less protected from the influence of a sudden rise of temperature in the external air surroundin the thermostat. From my experiments I have ascertained that. the sluggishness of the thermostatic element. during quick rise in temperature is due to the fact that the necessarily more massive support absorbs heat from the thermostatic element and thus prevents the thermostatic -element from heating as quickly as it should. I have discovered that this difiiculty may be overcome by intcrposing a metallic element having a low co-ellicient of thermal conductivity between the support and the thermostatic arm.

A suitable metal for this purpose is a nickel steel alloy, for instance, of 35% nickel. This element, may be termed a thermal insulator.

The accompanying drawing and specifics, 00 tion show and describe one form of device embodying the improvements of my inven tion.

Figure 1, is a side view of the thermostat. Fig. 2, is, a bottom plan view of the same. 6 5 Fig. 3, is a sectional view on the plane of the line X, X of Fig. 2 on tin-enlarged scale.

'Fig. 4, is a perspective viewof the support,

the thermal insulator and the thermostatic arm, on an enlarged scale. The circuit terminals 10 and 11 are suit-. ably supported and theyare insulated from each other in anysuitable manner. In theform shown the circuit terminals have thermostatic arms such as 12 and 13 and a 76 thermal insulator 14 is interposed between each arm and its support 25.

In the construction illustrated the supports are formed integral with the circuit terminals and each support is slotted as at 15, 15 which divides it into three parts 16, 16 and 17. -The thermal insulator has a vertical wall 18, two flanges 19, 19, two vertical walls 20, 20 and 'fianges 21, 21. The flanges 19,19 fit in the slots 15, 15 and the walls 18 and 20 lie against tlr arts 17 and 16 respectively of the support lhe flanges 21, 21 are slotted as at 22. 22ito receive the larger ,endof the tapered biui. tallic a'rin 13. The base of the arn1is preferably corrudb gated'or grooved as at 23to afford, a better connection with, the walls of tl ie slots 22, 22. The. flanges 21,121 of the thermal insulator 14 are in the form shown'bent double at 24 for stiffening the member. The thermostatic element is preferably slotted as at 25 along the greater part of its central line so as to divide the arm into two parts and prevent it from buckling transversely when expa-nding under heat-conditions. In addition to the close fitting engagement of the mem- I lml' 1 t in the slots 15, 15-.and of the thermostatic clement inthegslots 22, 22 the parts may be soldered together if desired for still greater security. V 0

On account. of its greater mass the su port, will naturally heat up slower than tie tl'iern'iost'atic arm and v the weatherproof enamel with which the support is usually coated form in direct a heat insulating jacket M. w-.. M

interposed which adds. further ,to the slow heat ing qualities of the support. Upon a sudden rise in temperature therefore, the thermostatic arm heats up rapidly while the support re mains relatively cool. This relatively cool support of greater mass possesses the inherent ability of absorbing heat from the The arm beingthus thermally insulated from"-and in this sense independent ,of its support, leakage of heat from the arm to the'support is prevented and consequently the arm receives the maximum effect of a change in temperature without. being affected by lits manner of support. The use of the thermal insulators is particularly effective in a thermostat of the type, illustrated in which two thermostatic arms are employed, because the arms in this type of device are relatively short and any loss of heat through absorption or conduction is naturally more noticeable Where the thermostatic arms are short than it would be where the arms are longer. Also having two anchorages practically doublethe tend ency to heat transference or leakage.

I have found that the use of a thermal insulator. between :the thermostatic element and its support in some cases increases the speed of operation of the device as much as one minute and in all cases increases the Speed of operation materially, especially under the conditions existing in case of tire such for instance, as an increase in t'emera-ture of fifteen degrees F. per minute.

'What I claim is 2-;

i. In a thermostat, a thermostatic arm and a support therefor including a thermal insulating element of nickel steel.

2. In a thermostat, a slotted support, a sheet metal member having a central wall, two walls laterally spaced apart therefrom but parallel thereto and connected by flanges substantially at right angles fitting in the slots in'said support and a thermostatic element secured to said sheet metal member.

3. In a thermostat, a. sheet metal member having parallel flanges with slots in said r flanges'and ai thermostatic element secured in said slots,"

her-interposed between the thermostatic ele- :1"- ,55 4. In a thermostat," a-sheet metal member having parallel fiangeswith' slots in said flanges and a thermostatic element having its end portion ooved to fit intothe slots in the parallel angespv I 5. In a"thermostat',,a support having a slotted end-,a supporting member-engaged in the slotted end *of the support, said supporting member having'flanges outstanding from the support and slotted 'to receive a thermostatic arm and 1 'a thermostatic am engaged in the slotted outstanding flanges of the supporting member.

6. In a thermostat, a support provided with slots therein, a supporting member "/0 having flanged portions engaged in the slots in the support, said member having longitudinal slots therein, and a thermostatic arm having longitudinal grooves in the end of the'same to {it the longitudinal slots in the supporting member. f I 4 7. In a thermostat, a pair'of relatively short thermostatic arms arranged toimake engagement under certain thermal conditions, supports for said arms and thermal insulators conductive to electricity interposed between the arms and their respective supports. I 1; I 8. In a thermostat, aithermostatic ele' ment, a support for said element and a memment ahd its support conductive to electricity but having a relatively'lowco-efiicient of thermal conductivity."

9. Ina thermostat, a thermostatic arm, a support therefor and a thermal insulating member conductive to electricity interposed. between' ithe arm and its support havin a slotted connection-with the support an a slotted connection with the arm.

10. In a thermostat, the combination wit a member having spaced substantially parallel walls slotted longitudinally and provided with reinforcing flanges at the edges thereof, of a thermostatic arm having its 10 end portion engaged in the slots in the said spaced walls.

HENRY E. REEVE.-

Witnesses J. GILMAN, K. S. 

